


signposts on the path

by bessemerprocess



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Episode: S02e14 Such Sweet Sorrow Part 2, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 05:25:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18564832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bessemerprocess/pseuds/bessemerprocess
Summary: There is small plaque near the door of Spock's office. It's worn nearly flat with years of fingertips running over its letters, but Jim Kirk knows it once read Admiral Katrina Cornwell.





	signposts on the path

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you waiting for the next chapter of Gone Down Where the Goblins Go, it's next up.

Jim Kirk rarely waits in Spock’s office for Spock. Oh, he shows up to annoy his second in command on a regular basis, but usually when Spock is already there. Spock can be finicky about his personal space, and his lab has always been that. Still, it’s the Captain’s prerogative, and Jim’s personal quest to keep Spock on his toes. 

Today he’s reclining in one of Spock’s chairs, distracting himself with reports as he waits. He’s just out of the way enough that Spock won’t immediately see him when he enters. Jim likes to watch his first officer go about his day, loves seeing just exactly how good Spock is at his job. So he’s not surprised Spock doesn't notice him at first, but he is surprised that even though he’s carrying a stack of PADDs, Spock reaches out to touch a tiny plaque beside his door. 

Kirk has seen it before; he’s seen, touched and memorized every inch of the Enterprise. It never struck him as important before, not until Spock touched it like it was special, some ritual he undertakes every day. It’s a memorial plaque, not standard issue, but something crews add all the time to honor fallen comrades. This one is from Pike’s captaincy, if Kirk remembers correctly.

Deck 5 has been rebuilt three times since Pike was captain, but the plaque is still there. Memorial plaques don’t usually make it through an overhaul, he knows. Especially a tiny one like this, just a name and a date worn almost away. He doesn’t know how or why, but Admiral Katrina Cornwell died saving his ship, just like so many other people before and after her. He thinks, looking at Spock, he should find out.

Deck 5 became host to the science labs in the refit before he took command of the Enterprise. He’s not sure what they were before. The whole deck is Spock’s domain now, and he’d chosen this lab for his own. It’s not the biggest lab, or the closest to the bridge. There is not a single thing special about the place, except for that plaque that Spock seemingly touches every time he walks into his lab. 

“I brought lunch and the reports on Deleyno IV,” Kirk says, making Spock aware of his presence. Someday he’ll ask who Katrina Cornwell was to Spock, why he’s clearly made sure this tiny plaque in her honor has stayed on the Enterprise. First, he has some research to do.


End file.
